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Kaede hung limply in front of her classmates over the giant piano.
Kaede hung limply in front of her classmates over the giant piano.
Kaede hung limply in front of her classmates over the giant piano.
Kaede hung limply in front of her classmates over the giant piano—
Excruciating pain in her back, then she was gone.
A tunnel....at least "it" felt like it.
Felt like it was being sucked through....something at top speed.
Why "it"?
It was quite unknown(even to itself) what it was, didn't know its own identity. Just that it existed.
And then.....
She saw it.
Blinking so that her eyes could adjust to the new environment, was an alive and whole Kaede Akamatsu.
Ah yes, sight. What an unfamiliarly familiar sense....or was it familiarly unfamiliar? Familiar....familiar......a blood-stained surface?! Right in front of her, too—
Blood splattered everywhere, around her as she sprinted as fast as she could towards that bookshelf. A huge puddle of bright pink liquid - blood - flowing through from in between strands of fluffy light green......his hair......Rantaro's hair.....that used to be so bouncy and full of life whenever he'd talked to her, or anyone really. Last time she saw him, his hair was wet, stained, could never be clean and lively again due to her irrational, disgusting, and irreversible actions.
Rantaro.....
That she was hyperventilating, wasn’t known by the girl until a loud, high-pitched squeal of excitement cut through the thick silence that pushed down on her, piercing through her back, suffocating her—
"Oh?? It worked?" that same cheerful voice, laced with amused surprise, said.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she shot up from her spot on the ground, her utter shock keeping her steady on her feet. Or rather, her sturdy brown shoes, how on earth were they not damaged?
No.....
Angie?
How was Kaede hearing her voice? Maybe she was in the afterlife, and Angie had already died in this cursed killing game? Some hope seeped into her at this thought, her heartbeat slowing. After all, that meant Angie wouldn't have to suffer any longer with all the distrust, tension, despair.....
Yep, anyways, maybe that's how Kaede could hear her.
Her shoulders fell a little as they grew less tensed.
Definitely nothing el—
It suddenly occurred to her that a hard, flat, wooden surface was under her. With a jolt, Kaede realized the "blood-stained surface" she'd been looking at was a ceiling, the wooden surface under her being the floor.
As if on instinct, Kaede turned her head. Awkwardly, as if her neck hadn't been oiled in a long time.
Who was she kidding, Kaede was a human! Why would her neck need to be oiled?
....and she saw an excited Angie jumping up and down excitedly on the wooden floor, a little distance away from Kaede's lying form.
"Praise be to God!" Angie gasped, a wide smile beginning to spread over her face, though she didn't let out one of her signature laughs. "It has worked! I must tell the others."
Before she could sprint out the(locked) door to spread the news, Angie stopped herself just in time, and turned to Kaede.
"W-What?" was all Kaede could say as she used her mouth for the first time since.......the discordant, distorted sound of the Flea Waltz replayed in her brain as her limp body was jolted, swung around to press on the giant keys......
No! She clearly wasn't dead now....but how? How.....
Angie interrupted Kaede's internal struggle by bending over her and offering her outstretched hand. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked Kaede, who took Angie's hand and hoisted herself up.
"What happened to me...." Kaede's heart beat fast. No way this was happening. She was alive.
Shouldn't she be thankful?
"Ah, nothing to worry about!" Angie said happily. "I should tell the others that you're back."
Her gaze looking past Angie, Kaede saw what looked like a messy room, filled with art supplies scattered here and there.
"What is this place?" Kaede asked, dumbfounded.
Nodding, Angie responded, "My research lab. Isn't it simply divine~?"
The pianist gave her a nod back, unsure of what to say. After all, what could she say? Something like, "Oh gosh, I love this room where I woke up alive and unscathed, after dying from an elaborate execution?" No, Kaede was super confused, instead. And terrified.
She'd never be able to look Shuichi or anyone else in the eye ever again.......
But who said she woke up in the Ultimate Academy - the place where the killing game was hosted?
Angie did say this was her research lab, though. And research labs for Ultimates were probably just in the Ultimate Academy. Not any other place. Right?
The horrified and absolutely not-calm look on her face was apparently apparent to Angie, who wrapped her delicate arms around Kaede, who was glad the arms weren't touching her neck in any way.
The metal collar which had wrapped itself around her neck- NO! Don't think of that.....
While Angie hugged her silently, Kaede was biting back tears of helplessness.
Eventually, the tiny artist had to pull away from the hug, giving Kaede a bright smile. "Don't worry, I'll be right back!" She went away, facial expression mingled with concern.
It was then that Kaede had noticed the lifelike, hanging abominations around her, staring.
"E-Eh???" Kaito yelled, latching himself onto a flustered Shuichi. The two of them, along with Maki, had been peacefully walking to breakfast until Angie greeted them with the recent news. "Your f-freakish ritual w-worked?"
"Yes indeed!" Angie beamed, raising her arms in happiness, her loose sleeves falling down her limbs as a result. "A transfer student has indeed come back from the better place! It's all thanks to God."
Maki was so tensed up that even her two twin-tails were stiff. "Really?" she asked, her voice very still and silent, but still ominous. "This isn't....something you're telling us to convince us to join your cult?"
"Silly Maki~" Angie sighed. She put her hands down to point at the cowering astronaut. "Why would I try persuading you guys that way when Kaito over there wants nothing to do with 'ghosts and occult nonsense'?"
Kaito, who was the "cowering astronaut," wrapped his arms and legs around Shuichi even tighter, until the detective felt like Kokichi in one of Maki's chokeholds.
"Don't try to fool me," retorted Maki bluntly, as she stared Angie down with a nearly withering glare. "You would try convincing us to abandon him to join the cult in the process. Wouldn't you?"
Currently, Shuichi was turning blue in the face. At this rate, his skin would be even bluer than his hair. And that was saying something.
"Are you sure about that?" Angie asked, her bangs casting a sinister shadow on her face as she leaned forward, towards Maki. "Kaito seems to be clinging to Shuichi like a leech, nyahaha~!"
An embarrassed Kaito's face reddened. "I-I'm not scared!"
"Oh? And how did you know I was insinuating that, hmm?" asked Angie mischievously, wagging her finger in Kaito's face.
"Get to the point. What do you want?" came Maki's curt request. Her usual cliff face was filled with suspicion, her eyebrows knitting together and her mouth tensed up.
"Haha~ you truly do want to know! I did the ritual at night, and it worked!" Angie clasped her hands. "That proves the people who 'died' so far didn't actually do so. God is always right."
Kaito turned white, and clutched Shuichi even harder. As Shuichi was almost at the point of choking to death, Maki pried Kaito off of him.
"So," Maki pondered, staring Angie in the face while casually wrangling with a frightened Kaito, "you decided to revive a student in the dead of the night, leave them in your lab, and tell us about it in the morning?" Eyes narrowing, she continued, "Don't you see how dangerous that could be?"
"W-Wait, you're implying that the 'transfer student' may be brought back to life as dangerous or something?" asked Shuichi, putting a hand to his chin as he looked to the side.
"No, no~ not at all!" corrected Angie. She turned to Maki again. "Don't worry, I have taken good care of our transfer student! I allowed them to sleep in my lab for now, as I have given them some bedsheets and pillows from my dorm. For safety measures, you remember that I have the key to my lab, right?"
A shadow came over her face(courtesy of her bangs as she leaned forward), highlighting her round blue eyes that innocently stared up at the assassin, yet held some sinister vibe. Same with her thin smile, which didn't quite reach her eyes.
Maki put her mouth in a line. Perhaps there was some point to what Angie had said.
"I even took away - and explained - the other hanging effigies, as they seemed quite disturbed by the sight," she continued rambling to Maki, a finger on her chin as she waved around her paintbrush. "But you should be more happy about this, God gave back your frie—"
"I get it, be quiet," Maki dismissed Angie with a huff, crossing her arms on her chest. The way she glared at Angie, her teeth visibly clenched, showed her dissatisfaction with this new knowledge. "And none of them was my friend."
The detective next to her was attempting to rub Kaito's back, as an attempt at comfort. Not too harshly, so as not to upset the....interesting way Kaito's jacket was placed around his shoulders. "I have noticed something strange about your statements, Angie. You've referred to the student as a 'they'." His ahoge seemed to perk up, his hand on his chin in thought. "Do...do they go by those terms, or...or did you not want to reveal their identity so easily? Is that right? Perhaps to respect their boundaries, if they don't want anybody to know they're alive yet?"
Angie's smile started to diminish slightly with a more intense shadow coming over her eyes, but increased in brightness again, her eyes closing sweetly, as she began to answer, "Well, I didn't ask the student if they wanted to be known to us all. So Atua told me that it would be best not to tell anyone the transfer student's identity."
Assuming the worst and having lower expectations, Shuichi thought. That was smart......and surprisingly considerate of a cult leader like Angie.
"Wait...." Maki started, holding the now still Kaito, her other hand on her mouth as she bit at her thumbnail in thought. "The necronomicon.....was a motive for murder....."
".....then we basically used a motive, and thus, we're playing into Monokuma's hands, right?" continued Shuichi from where Maki's words ended. His brows furrowed as he suddenly glanced over at Angie, apprehension in his light eyes.
Her red eyes glinting brighter, Maki directed her fierce(and famous - or infamous) glare at the artist/cult leader. "No, she is. Not 'we.' She just told us that the ritual was conducted by her."
The astronaut she was holding looked ready to faint again.
And the resident villain - Kokichi, who was on his way to get breakfast from the dining hall - just came into sight, walking casually. That was, until the whole fiasco occurring in the hall caught his eye(no matter how hard Shuichi was praying that the troublemaker wouldn't notice them and exacerbate matters), visible via a grin snapping onto his face.
He raised a finger to point at them, snickering at Kaito in particular.
"Nishishi! Guess Spaceboy doesn't seem to be super into this foursome here!" That same finger was raised to his mouth. "Or is this some kind of a....plot?"
Visibly, Maki stiffened at his presence for obvious reasons, while Shuichi pointedly stared away from Kokichi. Noticing how his quieter friend tensed up, he ventured to change the subject.
"Ah, Maki," began Shuichi nervously, sending Kokichi a stern look for laughing at his friend, "I think we should put Kaito back into his dorm—"
"—awww, is the so-called astronaut secretly a scaredy-cat?" mocked Kokichi, placing his hands behind his head as he approached the four, Angie simply staring at him with her little smile. His expression and smile darkened, purple eyes nearly glowing. "Damn, I thought Maki was the only cat here!"
"Do you want to die?" Maki asked in a reserved tone laced with a threat. A very real one, that could be seen from how her red glare was fiercely directed at the supreme leader.
Shuichi thanked luck that Maki didn't bring out her knife.
"Now now, Maki," began Angie, pouting while continuing to twirl her paintbrush, "God wouldn't want you to—"
"—well soorrryyyy Maki, I can't indulge in your strangulation fetish today! Neeheehee~" staring at a now-outstretched hand, Kokichi continued, "it's not like this is a top secret important rendezvous you have to...y’know, kill me over." He leaned forward with a more sinister expression, his checkered scarf hanging from his neck. "Or is it?"
While Maki silently scowled, Shuichi tried to interrupt with, "Kokichi, we were not plotting anything suspicious. Angie was," he nervously looked over at the artist, who gave him a spirited shake of the head, "she was telling us....good news. It isn’t any of your business anyways." Being tired of Kokichi's attitude made some irritation seep into the usually placid Shuichi's tone.
"Then why does Space Himbo look so scared?" cooed Kokichi, giggling with his hand on his cheek. "Maybe he's the Ultimate Chicken instead!"
"The Luminary of the Stars doesn't chicken out by going back to his dorm!" yelled Kaito, suddenly standing up straight and tall without needing any support. Maki's eyes widened slightly as she stepped away from him. "This is just a simple bump in the road, but I'm NOT giving up on breakfast!"
Laughing, Angie skipped ahead, twin tails flying, past Kokichi. "Well, I am going to get some food for myself and our transfer student. May God keep you all safe!"
With a look after her, the supreme leader turned around to Kaito, Shuichi, and Maki, looking at his hand as he spoke. "Well. Guess I don't wanna be left with three annoying people here. A nosy detective, a killer, and a scaredy-cat. Ugh!" With an exaggerated look of disgust as he screwed up his nose, he turned his back on them to go ahead, too.
Literally all Kokichi said in that moment was said in a jesting, but nevertheless biting tone, but Shuichi sensed something wrong. Something, like a real frustration.
Hmm. Kokichi was always so difficult. But that "difficulty" really aided a lot in class trials(he was ashamed of getting used to them already, despite there having been only two of those), didn't it? So why was Shuichi complaining?
Like it or not, Shuichi was mildly worried about Kokichi. Scratch that, VERY worried.
Something understanding inside him told that Kokichi was a student, a victim of this killing game(if he wasn't the mastermind) alongside the others. Even if he may act like a "tough villain."
He shook those thoughts away for later. Now, Shuichi could maybe use the clues Angie had inadvertently given to him to deduce who had been revived. If Angie hadn't been lying about the ritual working......
Kokichi was right. Shuichi is a nosy detective. Glaring at Kaito and Shuichi, Maki(who was probably a little stung by Kokichi's words) made them all resume the walk to the dining hall.
First, Angie had mentioned that the student was disturbed at the sight of the hanging effigies. A normal reaction, but....if Shuichi read into it.....maybe the reason for being disturbed was guilt? So the student may be a blackened. That narrowed it down to Kaede and Kirumi. But Kirumi often didn't show her emotions(Shuichi ignored how Kaede had hidden her own suspicion, stress, and distrust). Until her death...
Kirumi's panic from the previous trial, before her execution, played in Shuichi's mind, causing him to breath a little faster. He rubbed at the elbow of his other arm a little for comfort. No need to focus on that now, thought Shuichi.
So, if Kirumi's off the list, then probably it was Kaede who got revived?
His breathing hitched at the thought, Shuichi mulled over the thought as Maki opened the doors to the dining hall. Since it was very early(about 8:00 A.M., which was when the morning announcement went off), only the training trio(Shuichi, Maki, and Kaito), Kokichi, Angie, and Kiyo were there. Because the members of Angie's cult - or student council, as Angie liked to call it - were patrolling the halls at night, they slept longer. Except for Angie herself, it seemed.
Miu Iruma wasn't there either. Obviously, she ignored the curfew set by the student council and worked an all-nighter in the computer lab on the fourth floor. And slept late because of that, too.
Conversation was currently being exchanged between the two most troublesome students - Kokichi and Angie, while Kiyo was listening in on it. Observing, as he would say.
Honestly, something felt a little off about him. But Shuichi focused on getting food with his friends - Maki and Kaito - instead of random suspicions. Angie was also heading to the kitchen to get food for herself and the transfer student.
That all happened with little happenings, except for Maki sending Angie a look that wasn't quite a glare, but not unlike it. Who could blame her? Angie had started a cult to keep everyone inside the prison of a school, as she claimed the desire to go to the outside world was corrupting and would cause more death.
However, wouldn't Angie's plan and the controversy over it also spread more dispute and trouble?
She seemed to be picking out food carefully. Probably so as not to pick something the transfer student may not like.
That may prove the authenticity of Angie's statement about her ritual working. Unless she was playing an elaborate trick on them.
There was one thing she said, though, right when she left the kitchen.
"Well," she turned to Maki, Shuichi, and Kaito, "if the transfer student is comfortable with it, then you may see them in my lab someday. Now, bye-onara!"
And then she swiftly flew out the door.
When the training trio had finished picking up their food, they headed out the kitchen, and found that Angie had already gone from the dining hall, too. Kokichi and Kiyo were having a conversation now, with Kokichi teasing Kiyo, who threatened to tear out Kokichi's nerves.
So as not to be dragged into this argument, the trio sat farther away on the table from those two.
"Kaede!" whispered Angie after closing the door to her research lab, making sure nobody was out in the halls of the academy's fourth floor. Not that anyone would be there, considering its creepy ambience. Except Kiyo. Firstly, is lab was on the floor; and secondly, he was the type to enjoy this kind of atmosphere. "I have brought food for you."
Kaede, who was briefed on the situation which happened so far, took the food when it was given to her. Watching her as Kaede finished, Angie asked, "Sooo, what do you think?"
That question could mean a lot of things. What Kaede thought about the food, about what happened after Kaede had - apparently - been executed. Or what she thought about Angie's research lab, or of the ritual used to revive her.
But one thing was on her mind: What did the others think about her - no, would think of her now she was alive?
Of course, there was only one way to find out. Kaede bit her lip nervously, while chewing on the last bit of her food. What if they think you're the mastermind, and that's how you were revived so successfully? asked a little voice in Kaede's head. Since the mastermind is.....well, the mastermind, and could control a lot of things.
She'd have to take the risk. Kaede couldn't hide out in the Ultimate Artist's lab forever while the killings would - most assuredly - continue.
This second chance at life was given to her, and should be used wisely. That's what Kaede thought.
"I think.....well," started Kaede, after she finished the last bite of food. How voraciously she had eaten it, probably because the feeling of food is amazing on your tongue after "being dead" for a long time. "Maybe I could see Shuichi, I guess? We were sorta' close when I was alive." Then, the thought that she had basically used his knowledge to try killing the mastermind crossed her mind.
Shaking it away, Kaede continued, Angie giving her an encouraging small smile, "And I think you could tell the others I've been revived. Wait, have you already....?" she suddenly asked Angie, who shook her head.
"God told me to assume otherwise," Angie said in a serious tone, "that....our classmates may not take the news so well." She stopped, allowing Kaede to speak again.
"Well, I don't mind if you tell them now," Kaede sighed. "Like, right now. The sooner, the better."
"...okay, then!" quipped Angie, staring at Kaede for a bit, then leaping out the door, closing it after her.
While Angie was gone, Kaede did some more thinking. Angie had told her about the student council she'd started. Obviously, Kaede didn't agree with its premise, but didn't voice it out loud. After all, Angie had been the one to revive her. Wouldn't help to be, well, rude right now.
Once Angie would have told everyone that Kaede was alive, then maybe Kaede would do something about the student council. She mulled over the plans in her head, anything to not think about the people she'd failed - Rantaro, Shuichi, Ryoma, and Kirumi.
Anxiously, she tapped her foot on the floor. And Angie told her about Maki's secret - she wasn't actually a child caregiver, but an assassin. According to Angie, Maki had been taken under Kaito's wing - and the same had been done to Shuichi. It was well-known among the students that the three trained every night.
Maybe Kaede, along with Kaito, could convince Maki to get along with the others? Perhaps stop killing, once they would all get out of here?
Something told her that was far from possible. But she had to try.
To make everybody get along.
A student council meeting had been started up in the dining hall, with, obviously, Angie as the one to start it. Whoever was in the student council, and whoever was in the dining hall at the time had to hear whatever was said in the meeting.
"Everyone! Let us all settle down!" Angie announced, everyone sitting down at the table. Except Angie, of course, as she was the one speaking. "Remember the Necronomicon?"
Everyone nodded. Kokichi's face had gone strangely blank. He wasn't part of the student council - he wasn't that naiive - rather, he was one of the people in the dining hall at the time the meeting started. Same with Kiyo.
"Neehee, let me guess!" Kokichi looked at his fingers as he stretched them out in the air. "You revived someone, riiiight? And they are a zombie, running around infecting everybody! Ooh, ooh! I'd bet Kaito got infected first! Or he's shitting his pants somewhere!"
As usual, Tenko was the first to lash out. "Who gave the nasty degenerate the right to speak? He isn't even supposed to be part of this meeting!"
"And, Kokichi, please don't make jokes about that," shivered Tsumugi, looking a little antsy in her seat. She adjusted the bright orange bowtie-like thing around her collar. "And besides, this isn't even a good setting for a zombie apocalypse....."
Gonta, who was next to her, tried to calm her down.
"Please, don't disrupt the meeting, everyone!" yelled Kiibo, standing up. Kokichi rolled his eyes, putting his hand on the table.
"Wow, the robot can talk!" he jeered at Kiibo. The resident man-hater came to Kiibo's defense.
"Don't even dare make fun of Kiibo like that!" shouted Tenko, clenching her fists as she stood up. "He's more human than Kokichi is!"
"Please! Silence!" Kiibo continued to say frantically, appearing more angry and tense.
Yawning next to him, Himiko sighed, "If I'd had enough sleep, I'd put a Silencing Charm on you guys...."
Agreeing with Kiibo, Kiyo affirmed, pulling his mask up the bridge of his nose, "Yes, I believe Angie has something important to say."
Tenko, who slowly sat back down, scowled at Kokichi, who decided to snatch Kiyo's hat to play with it. His expression hardening for a bit, Kiyo looked ready to threaten Kokichi again, but decided against it. After all, what Angie had to say seemed rather important.
"You're correct, Kokichi," Angie said, confirming what they had all feared - or anticipated. "A very, very lucky student has been chosen by God to come back to us."
"And it's veeeery lucky to come back to a killing game, right?" Kokichi remarked with a grin, putting a finger under his nose, his face sinisterly shadowed by his bangs.
While Tenko looked ready to flip someone, Angie corrected, "Well, it's better to be alive, anyways! Now, if that's fine with all of you, I'll tell you who the transfer student is!"
Now, everyone was interested, sitting up a little straighter with the exception of Himiko, tired more than usual. Her eyes came into focus more, though.
"Let me guess!" Kokichi said again, literal stars in his eyes. "It was Kirumi! Aha! I knew it! Mom always comes back-"
"Kaede!" Angie declared. "It was Kaede Akamatsu who got revived, all thanks to God!"
All was silence. Kokichi's face went blank, and Kiyo's eyes went wide. In the meantime, Tenko let out a gasp and Himiko almost fell off of her chair. As Tenko wasn't there to rescue her, Gonta held Himiko's chair just in time, saving the mage from a potentially fatal fall.
"Awww, come on!!!" complained Kokichi, donning the appearance of a whiny brat. "Whyyy? What if she tries to kill one of us under the excuse of thinking her target was the mastermind?"
"But didn't Kirumi kill someone too? And that for a 'selfish' reason...." muttered Tsumugi, as a comment on how Kokichi complained earlier that the revived student wasn't Kirumi.
"Gonta doesn't understand Kokichi," Gonta said, looking into his lap. "Kaede not think like how Kokichi says she does!"
"Tenko agrees! And Kaede isn't a.....male!"
"You would seriously take only her word as the truth?" Kokichi almost laughed. "What if she herself is the mastermind and wanted to trick us! Come on, Gonta, even you aren't that dumb."
"Don't be rude!" yelled Tsumugi.
"Sheesh, Tsumugi, that was a lie!" he hollered back at her. "How could you hurt me in the feels like this? You still don't know me after weeks of being stuck with me....."
As Kokichi let out the crocodile tears, a certain blonde inventor passed by, and opened the dining hall doors, then poked her head in.
"Damn...." she said quietly, watching the ruckus, "...they're all fucking finally getting it on and over with."
She let herself in, and put her hands on her hips. "Hah! Look at this shit I've stumbled upon! A fuckin' orgy!"
"OH MY GOSH, MIU!" Kokichi screamed at her, rolling his eyes. "Take off your rose-tinted goggles! You clearly can't see that we aren't doing that kind of thing, you kinky little loser."
Indeed, Miu was literally wearing her goggles over her eyes and had forgotten to put them on the top of her head again. So, she did so right now and looked at everyone. She had been too preoccupied with this to have her usual(masochistic) blushing reaction to the purple-haired boy's insults.
"Sheesh....." Miu sighed off to the side. "It was just a lil' expression...."
Peacefully, Miu went inside the dining hall and got her food from the kitchen.
"This meeting is dismissed!" Angie declared, proceeding to walk out of the dining hall, her yellow raincoat flopping about her form. "And remember, I've told Kaede all that's happened so far! Do not be rude to her, or there will be consequences! Nyahahaha!"
And so, she walked out, happening to unintentionally slam the dining hall doors shut behind her in Miu's(weighed down with her packaged food, was beginning to head out of the dining hall) face.
For a moment, the inventor just stood there, saying a curse word or two, then waited for a while(perhaps not to accidentally hurt Angie, if she took some time in walking away) before opening the doors to get out of the room.